The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing an article by a deposition process. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing an article through a deposition process, and an imaging system for analyzing and controlling the process.
Past patents have proposed many ways of depositing, or ablating, metals, liquids, gases, ceramics, glasses, organics, and combinations of these, using a number of different methods. In the past chemical vapor deposition, laser, ion, electron or other directed energy beam or plasma based deposition, and other deposition processes have be used to create thin films, particles for particular processes, semiconductor structures and other small components or bulk parts.
In the past a complete feedback system to control the parameters governing the characteristics of the deposition process has not been implemented. Laser and electric microwelding and deposition systems have been employed where the part or the welding system is scanned in one, two or three dimensions to create a final solid. These systems suffer for poor dimensional control, poor control of exact material characteristics and poor control of final surface finish. Even in thin film deposition and semiconductor processing integral multiparameter feedback has not been implemented to monitor and control the deposition process. One example of this is that thin film deposition processes are limited by stress buildup in deposited thin films when the film becomes too thick. Using the environmental control and feedback system it is possible to control the required number of parameters to create a three dimensional part with the required final characteristics. Simple parts with low tolerances will need a simple system for their creation. Complex parts with precise tolerances, complex alloys or material combinations, or fine surface finishes will require many more parameters to be controlled and more precise spatial control to be implemented.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and system for producing and modifying three dimensional objects which extends the capabilities of, or obviates or mitigates, at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing and/or editing a three dimensional part by employing a focused energy beam to form the part by the direct deposition of material onto said substrate while the part is being monitored by an optical imaging system which provides dimensional information which is used to control the deposition process. Preferably, the material to be deposited can be carried by said focused energy beam to the desired site for its deposition. Also preferably, the material to be deposited can be decomposed from a precursor gas at the desired site for deposition by said focused energy beam. Also preferably, the material to be deposited can be supplied in an energy beam and from blown in particles simultaneously. Also preferably, the material to be deposited can be supplied from a welding process and from blown in particles simultaneously. Also preferably, the material to be deposited can be supplied simultaneously, or from sequentially selected sources for defined periods of time in wide or local areas, from one or more of plasma sources, welding processes, blown in particles, inserted particles, or organometallic, metal halide, metal vapour or ceramic precursor gases.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for direct writing and/or editing of three dimensional parts, comprising: a deposition process for deposition of material onto a point on a three dimensional object where the deposition process can be any deposition process of which many are known to those skilled in the art; a control means to regulate the power level of and activate and deactivate the deposition process; a movable stage to receive a starting surface or point for said deposition process such that said deposition process deposits material on said starting surface or resulting three dimensional part when said deposition process is activated, where said substrate may be a starting surface such as a single starting point at the end of an armature or a conventional substrate surface; and stage control means to position said starting point or three dimensional part adjacent to said deposition process such that said material from said deposition process impinges at a desired site to form a three dimensional structure thereat; and optical, thermal, and/or X-ray imaging system to monitor the deposition process as it progresses and provide feedback to the deposition control means and the stage control means.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for direct writing and/or editing of information carriers, comprising: a focused energy beam; means to supply one or more selectable precursor gases to an area adjacent to a three dimensional part or starting point; a movable stage to receive said starting point and support the three dimensional part as it is produced such that said focused energy beam impinges on said precursor gas adjacent said starting point or three dimensional part and decomposes said precursor gas to deposit material therefrom onto said substrate; and stage control means to position said substrate relative to said focused energy beam such that said focused energy beam impinges at said desired site to form a three dimensional part thereat; and optical, thermal, and/or X-ray imaging system to monitor the deposition process as it progresses and provide feedback to the deposition control means and the stage control means.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for direct writing and/or editing of information carriers, comprising: a focused energy beam; means to supply one or more selectable precursor gases to an area adjacent to a three dimensional part or starting point; a movable stage to receive said starting point and support the three dimensional part as it is produced such that said focused energy beam impinges on said precursor gas adjacent said starting point or three dimensional part and decomposes said precursor gas to deposit material therefrom onto said substrate; and stage control means to position said substrate relative to said focused energy beam such that said focused energy beam impinges at said desired site to form a three dimensional part thereat; an optical, thermal, and/or X-ray imaging system to monitor the deposition process as it progresses and provide feedback to the deposition control means and the stage control means.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing and/or editing a master for a three dimensional part comprising the steps of: (i) providing a suitable three dimensional part on a positionable stage; (ii) directing a focused energy beam to a selected site on said three dimensional part; (iii) employing said directed focused energy beam to alter the surface of said three dimensional part at said site; (iv) moving said positionable stage such that said focused energy beam is directed to another selected site on said three dimensional part; (v) observing said three dimensional part with an imaging system which provides feedback information on the characteristics of the three dimensional part, which may include structural, geometrical, positional, crystallographic, spectral or chemical information provided by the imaging system, where such information is used to control the alteration of the surface; (vi) repeating steps (iii) and (v) to obtain a desired part.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing and/or editing a master for a three dimensional part comprising the steps of: (i) providing a suitable three dimensional part on a positionable stage; (ii) directing a focused energy beam to a selected site on said three dimensional part; (iii) employing said directed focused energy beam to remove the surface of said three dimensional part at said site; (iv) moving said positionable stage such that said focused energy beam is directed to another selected site on said three dimensional part; (v) observing said three dimensional part as it is being removed with an imaging system which stores information on the characteristics, which may include geometrical, positional, crystallographic, spectral or chemical information provided by the imaging system, of the three dimensional part where such information is used to recreate the three dimensional part at a later date; (vi) repeating steps (iii) and (v) to obtain the data file for a future part.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing and/or editing a three dimensional part comprising the steps of: (i) providing a suitable three dimensional part on a positionable stage; (ii) directing one or more deposition processes to a selected site on said three dimensional part; (iii) employing said deposition processes singly, simultaneously or in controlled sequence to alter the surface of said three dimensional part at said site; (iv) moving said positionable stage such that said focused energy beam is directed to another selected site on said three dimensional part; (v) observing said three dimensional part with an imaging system which provides feedback information on the characteristics of the three dimensional part, which may include structural, geometrical, positional, crystallographic, spectral or chemical information provided by the imaging system, where such information is used to control the alteration of the surface; (vi) repeating steps (iii) and (v) to obtain a desired part.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing and/or editing a three dimensional part comprising the steps of: (i) providing a suitable initial three dimensional part on a positionable stage; (ii) directing one or more deposition or ablation processes to a selected site on said three dimensional part; (iii) employing said directed deposition and ablation processes to alternately remove and alter the surface of said three dimensional part at said site; (iv) moving said positionable stage such that said deposition and ablation process is directed to another selected site on said three dimensional part; (v) observing said three dimensional part as it is being removed and altered with an imaging system which stores information on the characteristics, which may include geometrical, positional, crystallographic, spectral or chemical information provided by the imaging system, of the three dimensional part where such information is used to recreate the three dimensional part at a later date; (vi) repeating steps (iii) and (v) to obtain both the current part and a substantially similar future part.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing and/or editing a three dimensional object comprising the steps of: (i) providing a suitable starting point or initial three dimensional part on a positionable stage; (ii) directing one or more deposition or ablation processes to a selected site on said three dimensional part; (iii) employing said directed deposition and ablation processes to alternately remove, add to and/or alter the surface of said three dimensional part at said site; (iv) moving said positionable stage such that said deposition and ablation process is directed to another selected site on said three dimensional part; (v) adding a particle or particles or item of previous manufacture to a precise location on the three dimensional part so that they can be encapsulated or incorporated into the final three dimensional part in a later step; (vi) using the energy beam and/or energy fields and/or deposition or ablation processes in combination with or without externally introduced new materials to change the local conditions or chemistry of the part to cause selective and directed fusion, inclusions, glassification, alloying, tempering, annealing, sintering, surface finishing, machining, micro-machining or colloidal inclusions in the three dimensional part under the supervision of step (viii); (vii) optionally moving the three dimensional part in a controlled path to create gradients in the composition of the final part; (viii) observing said three dimensional part as it is being removed and altered with an imaging system with both macroscopic and microscopic capabilities which stores information on the characteristics, which may include geometrical, positional, crystallographic, spectral or chemical information provided by the imaging system, of the three dimensional part where such information is used to control all of the steps mentioned above to produce a final three dimensional part which conforms to a predefined set of criteria stored as a data file; (ix) repeating steps (iii) and (viii) to obtain both the current part and a substantially similar future part.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method and system of manufacturing a three-dimensional object where all or some of the part is created by the method or process under computer control. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for writing and/or editing such parts by the direct deposition or removal of materials onto or from a part by ion beam; electron beam; molecular beam; laser induced deposition; laser fusion; arc deposition; plasma deposition; particulate or component part encapsulation, entrapment, implantation or entrainment; ablation, plasma discharge, carbonylation, gasification, sublimation, energetic oxidation or reaction. A computer file containing a three dimensional data set for the desired part is used as a starting point for the creation of the part. The chemical, optical, crystallographic, and spectral data for the part may also be stored in the image data file along with the related geometrical and structural data and used as part of the control system. An optical and/or spectral imaging system, which can include visible, ultraviolet, infrared, macroscopic and/or microscopic, and/or ion, electron or x-ray imaging systems with or without spectral analysis capability, is used to deliver images of the part which are acquired by a computer which can interpret the geometry, structure, chemical composition, and temperature of the final part as it is being written or edited. By using the data from the imaging and spectral systems the exact characteristic of the part can be adjusted on the fly to correct the part to the desired specification contained in the computer file While the part is being written or edited it is maintained in a controlled specific magnetic, electric, and/or acoustic field and the temperature, thermodynamics, pressure, gaseous content, particulate content, pressure (or vacuum), X, Y, Z, rotation and tilt are also controlled, all to control the characteristics of the final solid.
The method can be extended to include the erasure of a part under computer control and the methods described above where the computer collects all the available data on the part being erased in order to create the data file. This data file can then be used to recreate the part at a remote location.
The method and system can also be used to incorporate parts not made by this process by placing the parts to be incorporated at the appropriate locations as the part is being written into existence so that the incorporated parts become an integral element of the final solid.
In addition the method and system can be used to reheat areas of the part under precise control to cause annealing, tempering, case hardening, nitriding or other surface treatments as a stage of the process.